Joe Bowman
| finalappearance = | playedby = Bill Brochtrup }} Dr. Joe Bowman, better known as just Doctor Joe, is a psychologist who works primarily with under-aged patients but who also occasionally consults for the Los Angeles Police Department. He also does evaluations for the court system, notably evaluating whether a person is able to represent themselves in court. History He treated Rusty Beck before and during the trial of Phillip Stroh. Dr. Joe is a chess player, a passion of Rusty's, and often uses a game in order to center Rusty as they work in sessions. It also gave him a way of reaching Rusty when he was less able to open up. He also has a habit of ending sessions with Rusty being led to think of a question he wants the answer to, leaving Rusty to have to think about it himself rather than being given an answer or an important point he needed to consider, such as when he asked Rusty if he would chose to go with his mother if the opportunity arrived or remain with Raydor. Following the trial, Rusty continued visiting Doctor Joe whenever he needed advice. Rusty and others also regularly waylay him in the hall when Dr Joe visits the precinct, which he is always receptive to, often repeating his technique of stepping into the elevator or otherwise leaving the person who came to him in the hall with a new question whose answer ultimately helps them. In , Doctor Joe is called in on Sharon's suggestion to help deal with the kidnapped young children Henry and Mandy Collier who Sharon is aware will be traumatized after they are rescued. While preparing for the rescue mission, to pacify Deputy City Attorney Gloria Lim, Sharon asks Doctor Joe's opinion on whether they should try to negotiate with Paul Collier or catch him by surprise with a rescue mission. After hesitating to offer an opinion, Doctor Joe reminds the officers that Paul has had several years in prison to plan his revenge, was able to get an accomplice and has nearly succeeded in his plan already. Doctor Joe also states that he is worried that Paul has no apparent escape plan and implies that Paul may be on a suicide mission as a result. During the trial of Slider, Doctor Joe was called in to evaluate him and testified at his sentencing hearing about Slider's lack of remorse in killing Alice Herrera. As part of his Identity story The Other Side of the Coin, Rusty interviewed Doctor Joe about the factors that could've led to Slider's life of crime. In , Rusty talks to Doctor Joe through the hallways of the PAB about his mother having another child by Gary Lewis, attempting to seek his advice on the subject. Doctor Joe briefs Major Crimes on injustice collectors and states that their killer doesn't seem to match the profile of one despite the FBI's beliefs. In , Doctor Joe is brought in by Sharon to tell Mark Jarvis that his mother is dead. Doctor Joe admits that he's aware of the devastation Dwight Darnell causes as he was used to evaluate the serial killer's mental state and determine his fitness to stand trial and Dwight has even called him as a witness for the defense. Doctor Joe recognizes how difficult the news will be for Mark, but also that he needs to hear it and promises to be as gentle as possible. Alongside Julio, Doctor Joe breaks the news to Mark. While testifying in the case of serial killer Dwight Darnell in , Doctor Joe was shot several times with Doctor Morales stating his prognosis to be 50/50. Believing him to possibly be the target of the attack, the Major Crimes squad and Doctor Morales reported him dead to the press to protect him. Rusty was deeply affected by the news of his "death," and Provenza could not reassure him when Rusty first arrived at the squad room, in part because he did not want to tell him that Dr Joe was alive when they did not know if he would live. Sharon Raydor, arriving to find her son waiting in her office, and Provenza getting the call that he would live, is able to reassure him. After Doctor Joe regains consciousness, he tells Amy Sykes about his sessions with Dwight and points her to his recordings and notes on his sessions as well as potentially important parts. During this time, Doctor Joe is extremely loopy from morphine. When Henry Colson, a member of the Zyklon Brotherhood is given the list of victims from the shooting, he gives reasons why they were considered targets by the gang; he says his "justification" for Doctor Joe's "death" was that he is a homosexual. In , both Rusty and Provenza visit Doctor Joe who is much more coherent and jokes with Rusty about his condition. Doctor Joe tells Provenza more about his talks with Dwight and what he knows of Deputy Erin Simms and Dwight's father. Gus later expresses worry that Rusty is not upset at Doctor Joe's death as Rusty is unable to tell him that Doctor Joe is in fact alive. In , after the case is closed with the death of Martin Borja, Sykes states that she is now going to announce that Doctor Joe is in fact not dead, something that will make his family happy. Its also revealed that Doctor Joe was targeted because he learned that Dwight's father was not dead and the man learned of it since Dwight's court-appointed attorney was working for him and had access to Doctor Joe's confidential notes on his sessions with Dwight as well as the fact that Simms was working for him and was allowed to attend Doctor Joe's sessions with Dwight. In , Doctor Joe is called in to treat Ryan Rojas, one of the St. Joseph's Three who is emotionally vulnerable due to his abusive step-father and the fact that he is still coming to terms with the fact that he's gay. While Doctor Joe has recovered from Dwight's shooting, he now requires a cane to walk. Doctor Joe makes it clear that his job is to help Ryan, not the detectives. Doctor Joe succeeds in getting Ryan to open up about his experiences, making him very emotional, before Doctor Joe is pulled out of the meeting. After discovering that the detectives were using him as a ploy to get Ryan emotional in hopes of learning something and were watching his session, Doctor Joe is left angered. After Ryan talks to his mother, Doctor Joe's request to return to his patient is granted. In , Doctor Joe is called in to help speak with Phillip Stroh's mother who has dementia at the suggestion of Detective Camila Paige. Doctor Joe agrees to have Camila join him in talking to Gwendolyn and gives advice on how to properly elicit the needed information from the woman. Doctor Joe is reminded by Tao that his conversation with Gwendolyn is not bound by confidentiality and will be monitored. During the conversation with Gwendolyn, Doctor Joe silently reprimands Camila at times and at others gives her silent nods of approval. Together, Doctor Joe and Camila are able to learn the story of Stroh's presumed first victim Mary Wellington and two possible others while he was in law school. While later observing the tape of the conversation, Doctor Joe admits that dementia is a convenient excuse, but Gwendolyn is not lying about her mental state. Doctor Joe suggests that Gwendolyn's guilt brought on her current state. In , appearing to know that Rusty killed Stroh instead of Provenza, a departing Julio urges Rusty to continue his sessions with Doctor Joe as Rusty will need them. Known Patients People who have been either directly treated by Doctor Joe or whom he has been asked to evaluate: *Rusty Beck - *Rory Brooks *Paul Collier *Henry and Mandy Collier *Slider *Mark Jarvis *Dwight Darnell - *Ryan Rojas *Gwendolyn Stroh Trivia *While unconfirmed, Doctor Joe may be gay. When coming out to Sharon Raydor in , Rusty states that he's like Wade Weller, Doctor Morales "and maybe Doctor Joe" in that he's gay. In , when listing why the people shot in the courtroom deserved to die, Henry Colson called Doctor Joe homosexual. *Given Doctor Joe's testimony in , he initially acted in the role of a profiler to help the police capture Dwight Darnell in the first place. He was also instrumental in Dwight's capture by helping the Pasadena police narrow down where the next murders were likely to be in Dwight's killing spree. According to Doctor Joe on the stand, he was aided by the fact that in the end, Dwight just wasn't very original. *In his appearance on Identity, Doctor Joe states that he often works for both the prosecution and the defense as an expert witness. Indeed, during the trials of Slider and Dwight Darnell in and , he has been called as a witness by both sides respectively. *The events of the episode are presented mainly in the form of a story Rusty is telling Doctor Joe during a therapy session. Only the final scene of the episode appears to happen after the session. *Though not seen or mentioned by name in the series, Doctor Joe has a family. In , Amy Sykes remarks that his family will be relieved to find out that he is not dead after all. *Along with working with adolescents, Doctor Joe apparently works with the elderly as well. In , Detective Camila Paige mentions that when she worked in Missing Persons she dealt with a lot of Silver Alerts, elderly persons who had wandered off. Doctor Joe was the expert that often helped her find them and was thus called in on her suggestion to help with Gwendolyn Stroh. *Doctor Joe's preferred method of helping his patients appears to be that he gets them to a certain point, helping them figure out a lot of their problems on their own during the session and then abruptly ending the meeting without offering his opinion on a solution. In this way, he helps them understand their problems and leaves them with advice, but having to come up with their own solutions without his direct input impacting their decisions. Some of his methods are shown to include suddenly realizing a session is over as he is apparently about to answer and ducking into an elevator. *Doctor Joe's injuries from the shooting in were bullets to the right shoulder, left leg and head. The shoulder and head wounds appear to have been less serious than the leg injury. When he is in the hospital, a bandage is wrapped around part of his lower leg closer to the ankle than the knee. Doctor Joe makes a joke about telling it to his leg when Rusty brings up his legally dead status in and he mentions having one more surgery to Provenza when he visits. After he returns to work, Doctor Joe is seen using a cane, suggesting that the bullet did some permanent damage to the leg. In contrast, he shows no lasting impairment from the head or shoulder wounds which resulted in him wearing a bandage around his head and a sling in the hospital. Appearances Major Crimes Season 2 * * Season 3 * * * Season 4 * * Season 5 * * * * Season 6 * * Category:Characters Category:Major Crimes Category:MC Season 2 Category:MC Season 3 Category:MC Season 4 Category:MC Season 5 Category:MC Season 6